Weston’s landlords have joined forces to undergo a vigorous training and accreditation scheme, which they claim will protect tenants and enable North Somerset Council to effectively target ‘rogue’ landlords in the town centre.

Dozens of the town’s landlords signed up to the Somerset Property Network’s National Landlords Code of Excellence at a meeting in October.

The code will allow tenants to report problems more effectively and as part of its introduction, several landlords took part in a training day last week to learn more about housing tenants and complying with legislation.

The training day was delivered by veteran landlord trainer Mary Latham, a hands-on landlord of over 40 years who delivered the very first seminar for the London Landlords Accreditation Scheme as well as liaising with a senior Civil Servant in the late 1990’s when the Housing Act 2004 was being written.

An officer from NSC’s housing team attended, alongside support from Avon Fire and Rescue Service who donated 10 year battery smoke detectors to the event. As well as a handful of landlords and agents from Bristol, there were even a couple who had come all the way from Yorkshire to attend; who are hoping to roll out the NLCE format to their local authority in the future.

Sam Jackson, Director of the NLCE, said: ‘The accreditation day was amazing. So much information provided and even after 12 years in the business running quite a large portfolio, I learnt loads! Also lovely to spend the day with fellow landlords, networking is the way forward.

Landlords, you will not regret joining and the money it costs to come on the day; nothing in comparison to the money you could lose by getting it wrong.’

The code was introduced in response to the council’s plans to introduce selective licensing in Weston town centre, which would have seen landlords forced to pay a fee of £320 per property. The council scrapped the scheme after a legal challenge from landlords, and the group says this new training will prove to the council that the majority of landlords are responsible.

The day covered all the main areas that a landlord/agent should know in order to operate a safe and successful business. The next one is set to take place at The Imperial in South Parade, WSM on Thursday 19th January 2017. Those interested in attending should visit www.nlceuk.co.uk for full details.